By VANESSA HO, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The King County Board of Health passed a controversial proposal Thursday that bans the public use of electronic cigarettes, despite protests that the battery-powered, nicotine-delivery sticks emit no second-hand smoke and are often used for harm reduction.

The measure is not a complete ban on e-cigarettes. Rather, it prohibits e-cigarette smoking in the same places where real smoking is forbidden by the state, such as restaurants, bars and workplaces.

But the state's tobacco smoking ban, adopted in 2006, was based on the fact that second-hand smoke causes cancer and other diseases. The rationale behind King County's e-cig ban was a fear of eroding "social norms."

Health officials reasoned that the fake smokes - which emit a less-smelly, combustion-free vapor - are so similar to real smokes that they may cause people to think it's OK to smoke in public. And that may lead to more nicotine addiction and second-hand smoke, officials said.

"By returning smoking to the public eye, public e-cigarette use threatens to undermine the social norming impact" of the smoking ban, testified Scott Neal, manager of the tobacco prevention program for Public Health -- Seattle & King County.

The regulation also prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes, often marketed in bright colors and fun flavors, from minors. It also bans free giveaways and heavily discounted sales of the products.

The Board easily passed those regulations, saying young people needed to be protected from the products, while the federal government figures out what to do with e-cigarettes. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration lost a court fight to ban or regulate e-cigarettes as unapproved drug delivery devices.

But the Board was divided on the public-use ban, with four of 10 members voting for an amendment to drop that portion from the rule. The amendment failed.

Kathy Lambert said it was reasonable to ban sales to youths, but worried about being a "nanny state" in banning public use for adults.

"It becomes kind of a nanny state, like we take the fork away from you on Tuesday if you've had too many calories," she said.

Nick Licata said the public-use ban appears to be based on slim evidence and may set up the county for legal challenges.

"We don't really know what the impact might be on social norms," he said. "We're projecting."

But Board chairwoman Julia Patterson said the potential for diminishing anti-smoking efforts was great.

"I would like to see us protect those public places and places of employment from the image of someone sitting at their desk with something that looks identical to a cigarette and puffing on it," she said.

"That is a very powerful subliminal message."

The proposed public-use ban had caused a storm of protests from e-cig users and makers, who say the products are a "healthier alternative" to smoking, or a way to quit smoking.

One man, who drove from Vancouver, B.C. to testify, said e-cigarettes were the only product that had helped him quit a 40-year smoking habit. The man, who said his name was Gary Addleson, said e-cig users don't consider themselves as "smoking."

Rather, they're "vaping," he said.

"They became very helpful to me," he said.

"I don't want to be forced to have to go outside and stand with a bunch of smokers, and have my smoking desire be triggered again, and have to stand with the second-hand smoke I once caused."